Car door mechanism



H. T. ANDERSON.

CAR DOOR MECHANISM. APPLICATION FILED uaczr. 1920.

Patented Jan. 10, 1922.

3 SHEETS-SHEET I.

INVENTOR 6 51a,;

H. T. ANDERSON.

CAR DOOR MECHANISM. APPLICATION FILED DEC-27, 1-920.

Patented Jan. 110, 1922.

3 SHEETSSHEET 2.

H. T. ANDERSON.

CAR DOOR MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED 050.27.1920.

Patented Jan. 10, 1922..

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

FIG. 6

INVENTQR warren tartar HARRY T. ANDERSON, OF BUTLER, PENNSYLVANIA,ASSIGNOR T0 STANDARD STEEL GAR COMPANY, OEPITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, ACORPORATION OF PENNSYL- VANIA.

Application filed December 97, 1920. Serial No. 433,302.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HARRY T. ANDERSON, a citizen of the UnitedStates,and resident of Butler, in the county of Butler and State ofPennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Car DoorMechanism; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear,and exact description thereof.

My invention relates to doors for hopperbottom railway cars.

One object of my invention is to provide a car door which shall becapable of adapting itself to the door opening, whether the door and theopening are in their normal relation or otherwise.

Another object of my invention is to provideimproved means for operatingcar doors whereby the door, after being closed, shall be kept shut bythe weight of the load in the car and shall be provided with an opcrating lever having a flexible connection of adjustablelength betweenthe lever and the door. I

Railway cars having hopper bottoms closed by swinging doors with rigidhin s fulcrumed to the body of the car, are requently improperly hinged,causing openings around the door, and allowing part of the load toescape. In order to prevent this, I mount the door loosely on a supportso that the door has a certain amount of independent movement whichpermits it to adapt itself to varying angles of the door opening.

In the accompanying drawing, Fig. lis a transverse vertical sectionalview through a .portion of a car provided with door mechanismconstructed in accordance'with 'my invention, the section being taken onthe line 1.'1, Fig. 2; Fig.2 is a side view of one-half of the same car,partly in elevation and partly in vertical section on the. line 2 2,

' Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional view corresponding to Fig. 1and showing the d tails of the door; Fig. 4 is a fragmentary sectionalview showing a modified form of hinge construction; Fig. 5 is atransverse sectional view showing my invention applied to a standardform of hopper car; and Fig. 6 is a side view taken from the right ofFig. 5.

The car shown in the drawing comprises a center sill 2, side .sills 3,sides 4 and converging bottom plates 5,.these parts being'of ordinaryconstruction. At the bottom of the hopper formed by the side plates 5are open- Speciflcation of Letters Patent.

CAB DOOR MECH ings 6, the car being provided with four of theseopenings, each of which is closed by means of a door,.the constructionof which forms the subject of my invention. Around each of the openings6 on the under side of the car isriveted a downwardly and inwardlytapering plate 7 which forms an extension of the opening 6 and fitswithin a closure member or door 8 that is pressed from sheet material inthe form of a pan' having upwardly and outwardly flaring sides 9 whichconform to the shape of the extension 7. The door 8 is provided with alongitudinal stifiening and bearing rib 10 and is pivotally attached bymeans of ears 11 to two supporting arms 12. Bolts 13 extend throughopenings in the cars 11 and through corresponding openings in thesupports 12,

as shown in Fig. 2.

The supports 12 are hinged at 15 to links 16 which are supported byhooks 17 secured to the underside of the car bottom, and the supports 12are secured together to form a rigid frame by means of a plate 18 whichis riveted to the free ends of the supports 12. Each of the supports 12consists of an inverted channel bar formed of pressed metal and havingits end closed as shown at 19, Fig. 2, with a portion 20 of one of itssides adjacent to the ends 19 cut off at 21, Fig. 1,

and bent flush with the end 19 to form a bearing of substantial lengthfor the plate 18, which is secured to the ends of the supports 12 bymeans of rivets 22.

A clevis 23 is bolted to the plate 18 midway between its ends and oneend of an operating chain 24 is attached to this clevis. The chain 24passes over a roller 25 carried in a stirrup 26 secured to the undersideof the car bottom and then passes over a sheave 27 carried by anoperating lever 28, and from the sheave 27 to an eye-bolt 29 which iscarried by a bracket 30 and is adjustable in this bracket by means of anut 31 and a lock nut 32. One of the angle bars 33 forming the frame ofthe car bottom happens to extend near the upper run of the chain 24 andis bent up as shown at '34 so as to provide proper clearance for thechain. The lever 28 is pivoted at 35 to a bracket 36 that is riveted tothe underside of the car and the outer end of'this lever is receivedbetween parallel brackets 37 and is held against having a T'-shaped end39, openings being formed in the brackets 37 to permit the pin 38 to beinserted and withdrawn.

The hinge construction described above has the advantage that the doorwhen opened swings past the vertical line into the position shown indotted lines on Fig. 1, so that little or no material will be retainedin the pan 8 when the door is opened. When this feature is not requiredthe modified form of hinge attachment shown in Fig. 4 may be employed.As shown in the latter figure the supports 12, instead of being hingedto the links 16, are bent upwardly as shown at and are provided witheyes which are hinged at 41 directly to the under side of the carbottom. I

In the operation of the door mechanism described above, the door ismoved from the dotted-line open position shown in Fig. 1 to the fullline closed position by raising the lever-28 from its dotted-linepositon to ts full line position. The pull thus applied to the chain 21raises the frame formed by the supports 12 and the bar 18, and forcesthe closure member 8 against the tapering extension 7. The main objectis to provide an equalized door that will close regardless of binding ofhinges. If the door is improperly hinged, or if for any other reason thedoor does not correctly meet the door opening, the closure member 8 willadapt itself to the shape of the extension 7 by turning on its pivotpins 13, the tapering shape of the sides 9 and of the extension 7insuring that the door will be in engagement all around the opening.When the lever 28 is raised to its full-line position for closing thedoor, the line of pull upon the chain 24 crosses the pivot 35 of theoperating lever and therefore the weight of the door and the pressure ofthe load in the car tends to force the lever up. The door is thus keptclosed by its own wei ht and the weight of the load until the ever 28 isagain lowered. The function of the pin 38 is merely to insure that thelever 28 will not be dislodged by the jolting of the car.

- Various adjustments may be provided for insuring that the door will betightly closed by an upward movement of the lever 28. As shown, thisadjustment is effected by changing the position of the eye-bolt 29 inthe bracket 30. The sheave 27 may also be made adjustable on the lever28 if desired and will have the same effect as the adjustment of theeye-bolt 29 in changing the effective length of the chain 24.

Figs. 5 and 6 show the application of my equalized door construction toa standard form of hopper car. A portion of the car body is shown at 45with the usual hopper 46 and a door 47 which is suitably ressed fromsheet metal with a downturne flange 48 and with a rib 49. The door 47 isatdoors on opposite sides of the car body.

Suitable operating mechanism is attached to the center of the bar 55and, consists, as shown, of a link '56, a pivoted bolt on one end ofwhich extends through a sleeve 57 carried by the bar 55, while theopposite end of the link 56 is attached through in termediate link 58and crank 59 to an operating shaft 60, this construction forming thewell known Simonton type of door-operating mechanism. This mechanismforms no part of my present invention and is therefore not described infurther detail.

When the door 48 is brought into the closed position shown in Fig. 5 ittilts around the bolts 53, if necessary, so as to bring the door tightlyagainst the door opening, its operation in this respect being similar tothat described above in connection with Figs. .1 to 4.

- Various changes in the form and construction of parts may be madewithout departing from my invention and I therefore desire that no.limitations be imposed upon my invention unless indicated in 'theappended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. A car door movable on hinges toward. and from the door openlngandcapable of.

movement independent of its hinges for adapting itself to the said dooropenin 2. A car door movable bodily on hlnges toward and from the dooropening and capable of pivotal movement independent of its hinges foradapting itself to contortions of the door opening.

3. Car door mechanism comprising a support and a closure member carriedby the said support, hinge members attached to the car body, linkspivotally attached to said hinge members and to said support, and

capable of pivotal movement on the said support independently of themovement of the said support and the said links to adapt itself to theshape of the door opening.

4. Car door mechanism comprising a supporting frame composed of .armsadapted to be hinged to the bottom of a car and having their free endsconnected, a closure member pivotally mounted in the said frame-andengaging the said frame only through, its pivots. and means forraisingand lowering the said frame.

5. Car door mechanism comprising a pivotally movable supporting frame, aclosure member pivotall supported in the said frame and provi ed on allsides with flaring side portions and an extension rigidly securedentirely around the door opening adapted to fit within the said flaringside portions of the closure member.

6. Car door mechanism comprising a pivotally movable frame, 'a closuremember secured on the said frame, a chain having its ends attached tothe said frame and to the car bottom respectively, and an operatinglever pivoted to the bottom of the car and carrying a sheave engagingthe said chain.

7. A car door comprising an 'extenslon rigidly secured entirely aroundthe door said frame comprising a plurality of parallel channel arms, aplate engaging the ends of said channel arms and pivot pins extendingthrough the said channelarms for supporting the said closurecmember.

9. A car door comprising a closure mem I ber and a swinging frame forpivotally supporting the said closure member, the said frame comprisinga plurality of parallel channel arms, means for pivotally attaching thesaid arms-to the car body, and a plate connecting the free ends of thesaid channel arms, each of the said channel arms having its free endclosed and having a portion of one of its-sides adjacent to its closedend cut away and bent flush with the said closed end, thereby forming abearing of substantial length for the said plate.

- 10. A car door comprising a closure member and a swinging frame forpivotally supporting the said closure member, the said frame comprisinga plurality of parallel channel arms, means for pivotally attaching thesaid arms to the car body, and a plate connecting the free ends of thesaid channel arms, each of the said channel arms having its free endclosed and having a portion of one of its sides adjacent to its closedend cut away and bent flush with the said closed end, thereby forming abearing of substantial length for the sald plate, ears depending fromthe bottom of the said closure member and embracing the said channelarms, and- )ANDERSON have hereunto set my hand.

HARRY T. ANDERSON.

Witnesses:

JOHN F. WILL,,,/ HENRY How.

